Flat on Your Back

Rest is hard work. When you are a productive person by nature, laying flat on your back (well, slightly propped up because flat puts too much pressure on your already beat up kidneys) is excruciating. The pain of your unattended to-do lists. The burn of emails piling up in the inbox. The torture of the unchecked boxes mocking you…it’s almost too much to bare. But, the feeling doesn’t last. Because the fever kicks in. The next 12 hours are a blur. You are a baked potato wrapped in foil, broiling in the oven. You drift in and out of sleep, aching waves of chills, pins, and needles cover you from head to toe. You stumble to the bathroom every hour— the doctor said to drink as much water as you can. Your eyeballs feel like balls of yarn inside a ziplock bag of sand. Your lips flake and crack. Twelve hours later, put a fork in: you’re done. You know your body is in all out warfare against an infection when you go from baked potato for 12 hours straight to bed for another 9 hours of sleep with just a 30 minute break for a few bites of food in between. On the outside, you feel like a lump of flesh and bones but just beneath the surface, a highly organized and systematic campaign is underway. If you try to deny that this battle is taking place by, say, getting dressed and driving into work to teach your classes. You may fool yourself into thinking that all is well. Two hours later though, it’s all you can do to park the car, strip down to your couch ware, and get horizontal again. The war isn’t over. Your body needs you to rest.

Portland Seen from the freeway, it’s dirty and its landscape is dotted by homeless encampments or remains of those. Together with the gloomy gray sky, it sets a rather dismal mood. Still, when you get out of the car and walk around, the mood brightens. Store windows are brightly decorated and the people are very eclectic. Especially the women. The death scooters abound; like discarded newspapers, they litter the streets though less so than when I was here last with Lisa. Powell’s Books is still otherworldly and blissful. I found four books I could not resist. Hundreds more I was attracted to. I also found where Plague City would be in the Mystery Thriller section.

Friday in Pioneer Square Pianos decorated with colorful themes dot the square on Fridays. This is lovely. Many, many humans from all walks of life can play piano. It was interesting to see just who would sit down and recall something from their past training and those who were maybe tinkling the ivories for the very first time. All in full view of diners, testers, preachers, workers, travelers, and walkers-by. Kids were by far the most unguarded. They all universally approach the keys with confidence. They don’t know yet that there are good, better, and best sounds from the piano. Never mind a bad sound. These didn’t exist for the young ones. My favorite vignette was of a delicate woman with dark hair and fair skin, playing some Beethoven with great precision and energy on the elevated platform while a rough bearded man with a kindly smile and scraggly beard sat and tapped his foot to her music the entire time. He applauded her before he left. There was something beautiful about the scene I won’t forget soon.